Playing Jane's Game
by Tabitha of MoonAurora
Summary: Madeline Hightower is no fool when it comes to mind games.  It's easy enough to pit to people against each other and make their livelihoods depend on each others actions.  Introspective piece from Hightower. Undertones of Jane/Lisbon romantic friendship.
1. Chapter 1

Playing Jane's Game

Madeline Hightower was an excellent investigator. She had a stunning resume, even before she came to the CBI. The higher ups loved her and the people that worked under her, valued her intelligence and respected her drive and control. Like anyone who worked in law enforcement, she had a life outside of work, but she kept it very much separate. She could throw her weight around, but she could also fight with subtlety.

Patrick Jane was a thorn in the side of CBI. He made life incredibly difficult for everyone involved at the Sacramento offices. He played mind games with everyone, disrupted the status quo, and generally turned the agency into a mockery in the worst of times. But the man, for all his problems, solved so many cases for his unit that he had made himself indispensible. In doing so, he caused even more problems, especially for an incoming boss.

Special Agent Madeline Hightower knew how to handle people like Patrick Jane. In fact she knew his game, his ways of twisting people, probing them to find their weaknesses. He was a con man through and through, she knew his past but even con men had soft spots.

It was no secret that in the CBI headquarters the only Agent that had ever been able to handle him was Teresa Lisbon. Hightower spent her own good time, observing the office dynamics from a distance while Agent Lisbon's unit was investigating the James Smithson murder. The quintet of agents, widely known as the most successful unit in the agency, also came with the most complaints. Interestingly enough, Hightower also found that their unit was the most talked about and gossiped about in the whole building. Perhaps it was the ratio of women to men that made them the most interesting unit. Most of the other units had mostly men or one woman.

Hightower listened well. While she took water cooler talk with a grain of salt, the new Serious Crimes Division boss found it was also a useful tool in gathering information about the status quo in a team, particularly Lisbon's. She learned from the casual banter between the other agents in the break rooms and bull pens that Lisbon had always been a relatively straight arrow. She was a by the book cop when she'd been in San Francisco and when she was invited to the CBI, nothing changed. For the most part anyway. There was one exception to that statement and it came with the consultant assigned to Lisbon's team. Hightower learned through the grapevine that to begin with, Lisbon had been able to shut down and stop most of Jane's plots. Of course there had been no end of tomfoolery regardless, but nothing near to the scale of things at present. Hightower observed that the pattern of complaints had changed however as well. The more schemes, the less outside complaints and the more killers were caught.

Of course there were rumors about why Lisbon, especially in the past six months or so, had come to accept Jane's plans with much less argument. People were always looking for a sex scandal and for the most part, that is what information Hightower was given from the gossip. There were even betting pools, she learned, for people who wanted to place money on whether or not the pair Serious Crimes Duo would reveal their "secret passion" for each other or simply keep it a secret, or whether they were actually together or just "going at it" for the sake of things.

The new boss felt, with near concrete certainty, none of these rumors were worth her attention. If Lisbon was anything like people had described her in her file, she felt professionalism was far too important to give up for a roll in the hay with her consultant, so to speak. Hightower sensed she had a kindred spirit in her unit and could see the young agent doing very well for herself in the years to come if she kept on the path that she currently upheld.

Still Hightower couldn't deny that the records and reports from the time Lisbon was saddled with Jane to the present had changed along with the apparent hierarchy in the unit. The Special Agent thought that as time went by, the incident reports became kinder towards Jane and even, in a few of the more recent ones, almost defensive. Hightower was no fool. She knew how this situation could go. The pair were friends, the kind that leaned on each other by the look of the reports and the assumptions of the people around the office. If that wasn't proof enough, there was also the incident six months prior when the consultant shot Hardy, effectively saving the senior agent's life. Hightower was certain that this, and not and illicit sexual relationship, was the cause for the new lenience Lisbon had for Jane.

Thus it came to the problem of controlling Jane. At this rate, he would be given free rein of the unit in a few months and Hightower could only sooth so many bruised egos with her own reputation before it ran out. He was somewhat of a loose cannon, though she had no doubt it would be worse if she moved him to another unit under the supervision of another agent. It was his respect, or perhaps his trust, of Lisbon that kept him from doing anything seriously damaging. All the same, there had to be further boundaries put into place to ensure that his arrogance and self assurance did not overpower his loyalty to his boss.

Madeline Hightower had played this game before. She would use them against each other, point out that they needed each other. So she would have a private word with each of them, tell Lisbon what she thought of her, make sure that she hung her career on controlling Jane and make certain that Jane knew Lisbon's career depended on his behavior. That would come in time. For now, she had to first meet the agents in question, and now was as good a time as any to do it.

a/n- I was going back through the second season, because I got seasons 2 and 3 for Christmas and I stumbled across Hightower's first entrance onto the show. I believe this might be two parts released today and then sometime afterward. This obviously is the before and then there will be and after. It will be shorter probably, just Hightower's observations of her one-on-one interviews with Jane and Lisbon but then again this was only supposed to be 400-500 word and its now 1100. Oh well!

Let me know what you think,

Wotcher,

Tabitha


	2. Chapter 2

Playing Jane's Game

Chapter 2

Madeline Hightower was not one to change her tune when it came to opinions of people. All the same, following her interview of Lisbon, she was surprised to the see that the Senior Agent, though driven by her words, was also frightened. Hightower had thought of Lisbon as a strong individual who held confidence in herself for everyone to see. She was the kind of person who could walk on the most gruesome of crime scenes and take charge. Again, Hightower thought Lisbon was not unlike herself.

The fact remained that despite the agent's determination and energy, she had seen a nervousness pass through the younger woman as though she was afraid she could not hold onto Jane's actions at times. This was not the attitude that Hightower had wanted to instill in the SCU Agent. The Special Agent crossed her arms and went to the window to look out. She only had a few minutes to think about Lisbon's response. Clearly the brunette was also surprised by her direct threat to her job. But that didn't clarify the fear. Hightower shook her head in thought. Handling this team would be harder than she'd thought but perhaps that was good. They were the premiere team, and perhaps that was why they came with the deeper emotional bonds between them. No one got in or out.

Jane was no fool; Hightower could tell that from the reports. He'd known the minute he'd sat down in the room that her compliment to him was a prelude to something less that kind. She'd been building up his already sizeable ego, connecting his pride with his friendship and loyalty to Lisbon. It wasn't hard. The man was like a peacock, albeit an intelligent and attractive peacock, but one all the same.

His tone when she'd asked him if he had questions was thinly veiled anger. He did not like having his own game thrown back at him and he did not like someone threatening his dearest friend. The special agent was not surprised at his demeanor and even not surprised to see conflict in his eyes when he answered at well. She thrown a monkey wrench into his plans and the man didn't like it in the slightest. He was very much a creature of his own making, proud to be in control of the situation. Jane was not unlike his boss in that respect.

To her irritation, however, Jane was not as easily cowed by her methods, in fact he seemed almost intrigued by them despite his dislike of her threat. He'd left with a much confidence as when he'd entered the room and Hightower was not surprised to see him make his way straight to the elevator. She'd made her point, but how long her ultimatum, put simply, behave or you get your boss sacked, would last, she didn't know.

Jane was clearly closer to his boss than she'd thought however. That moment of anger she'd seen was nearly animalistic, defensive, as though she were encroaching on his territory. Hightower drew in a deep breath. Whatever existed between the Senior Agent of the Serious Crimes Unit and her wayward consultant was different than any relationship Hightower had run across before. She was quite certain they were not lovers, but their actions did not fully support a simple friendship either. The two protected each other. The term "work wife" came to mind. She smiled slightly and shook her head. In many ways, whether or not Lisbon knew it, she was Jane's work wife. To whatever end, it may lead, Hightower was certain she'd made her point despite the complicated information she had gleaned from her interviews with the two. Settling in her chair and clicking a file on her computer, she delved into a case she knew she'd have to familiarize herself with as quickly as possible. The first thing Special Agent Madeline Hightower saw when she opened the file was the bloody crimson smiley face.

a/n- My first finished fanfiction ever. I'm not big on short works but this came to mind and I just had to write it. Hightower is such an interesting and dynamic character and I truly enjoyed her part on the show.

Let me know what you think,

Wotcher,

Tabitha


End file.
